Thursday, May 16, 2013

When to use resolve

Your group has already discussed an issue, researched options, and developed some
ideas. Now it's time to see if there is a proposal that everyone can live with.

What can you do with resolve?

Float a proposal or two out there. Invite others to post proposals, comment on
yours, and vote on them. Group members can participate when it's most convenient
for them, and members who aren't online can ask other group members to post on their
behalf.

Using resolve, you can find which ideas have the most support, and understand the
concerns of other members of your group, moving together to something that meets
everyone's needs. Throughout, you'll probably continue to use mailing lists or in
person conversations like you already have – only now, you'll have a shared space to
summarize the result of your discussion, and most importantly, know when you're
done.

When not to use resolve

Don't use resolve if your group hasn't already built relationships with each
other and developed a level of trust.

Resolve is for finalizing a proposal, not for brainstorming or discussion. If
you find it hard to succinctly state the proposal in a way that lets everyone
respond with a simple "approve" or "disapprove", you're probably not ready – you
might do a brainstorm with dotstorm, or do some heavy text
editing with twinklepad. For
general discussion or early-stage ideas, use a mailing list, phone conference, or
in-person discussion.

How it works

First, a group member creates a proposal, and then invites others to respond.
Members respond with a vote (e.g. "Approve", "Approve with reservations", "Block",
etc.), as well as a short statement for why they are voting that way.

When everyone has participated, any member can mark the proposal as "passed" or
"failed". Proposals can be reopened if someone disagrees with the outcome.
Every proposal has a log of activity, so you can quickly see who has been
participating, and who hasn't.

Here's an example proposal: Should we buy a 2-ton replica Moai head for our front
yard?